


What's Left Unsaid

by terrawrites



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Blood, Character Death, Depression, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Gun Violence, Heavy Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-03 00:07:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16797475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terrawrites/pseuds/terrawrites
Summary: A friend requested “Are you satisfied with the mess you’ve created out of me?” Father! Wally West & Daughter! Reader





	What's Left Unsaid

**Author's Note:**

> I made the reader the daughter of Wally and Artemis so I didn’t have to mess around and waste time messing with the canon. I hope you guys enjoy!

**“Are you satisfied with the mess you’ve created out of me?”** Your words still thrummed in his mind, it’s echoes bouncing off the walls of him mind making them grow ever louder until he couldn’t hear anything else, couldn’t think about anything else. At the moment of utterance, a desperate plea. Tears were streaking down the sides of your face, your breathing ragged and your voice cracking with every word. Your costume was disheveled, matching the state of your hair. A mess you were, but he still thought you beautiful, as any parent should of their child. His heart had shattered at the meaning in your sentence. Where had he gone so wrong? How could he have failed you so much?

You had been gone by the time he had been able to answer, only setting off his panic. The last thing he wanted was for you to be alone now, you needed him, you needed to fix the relationship between the two of you. Wally knew well how reckless one could be in the face of rampant emotions, how dangerous it was for you, and how easily it could mean your demise. He needed to find you before that happened. He needed to make things right with you.

You, for your part, threw yourself into any and every fight that came your way. The thought of staying home after your argument and subsequent confession had become too much to bear. You needed to feel something other than the depression which afflicted you, and the anger you felt at those who preyed upon the weak at night was just the kind of distraction you needed. With each punch, each kick, each sound of cracking bone beneath your blows you pushed the argument with your father further and further from your mind.

_Crack-_

It wasn’t your fault your mother died when you were little.

_Crack-_

Just because you are similar to her in some ways doesn’t mean you were her

_Crack_

Couldn’t he see how much it hurt you to be constantly compared to someone you barely knew and who he held on such a high pedestal? How much pressure your father put on you to live up to her name when the standards were well out of your league to begin with?

_Crack-_

Couldn’t he see that you were trying to be the best that you could be?

_Crack-_

Couldn’t he see everything you sacrificed just so you could be the daughter he wanted you be?

_Crack-_

Couldn’t he see that everything you did was because you just wanted your father’s approval, and that you weren’t even sure if he loved you?

_Crack-_

Why couldn’t he just love you for who you were?

_Bang-_

You were stopped dead in your tracks. Your head turned to look over your shoulder in what seemed like slow motion. Your eyes were met with the smoking barrel of a fired gun, the person holding it having had escaped your attention. You took a step forward, but the thug fired again, and you collapsed to the ground. Your hands went to your stomach and came back a dark crimson. You could feel more and more of it pooling around your body, but you just lay there, staring at your hands with a blank expression, your mind not quite comprehending the situation.

Off in the distance of your consciousness, you heard the thug step over you. He was gone before long, a hissed “shit” escaping his mouth as he saw your teenaged form bleeding out on the ground. He bolted, knowing that killing a child, especially a child superhero would bring down a wrath that no small-time criminal would ever dare to be caught up in.

Finally tearing your gaze from your hands, your eyes drifted up to the sky. Most of it was blocked by the tall buildings on either side of the alleyway, but you focused as best you could on the small sliver that you could see. You knew you were dying, but everything felt numb and distant to you right now. Your problems, the things you were looking forward to doing, all seemed to fade into the background. You existed purely in the moment, your vision beginning to fade in and out. But you focused on that small bit of night sky.

You didn’t want to leave your father behind, you didn’t want to die, but it was beyond you and what you wanted. You were dying. There was nothing you could do to change that, not even if your father knew where to find you would he be able to save you in time. You didn’t want to leave, but you knew that you were going to. So you kept your gaze upwards, and wondered if you would finally meet your mom. Maybe you would ask her if you did good, if your father was proud of you, if she was proud of you, if she loved you.

Tears slipped from your eyes. The light pollution from the city kept the stars hidden from your view, but you took comfort in knowing that they were up there, that if there was a heaven that you’d be able to see your mom again. You let yourself go, and kept your gaze on that small sliver of sky until your heart stopped.

It would be hours after your death when your father found you, and when he did he fell to his knees over your body. He hugged you close, whispering about how he would take everything back if he could, how he loved you, how sorry he was that he pushed so much onto you, how he just wanted you to be the best you could be and how he was sorry that it became so misguided along the way. He whispered all those things that you wished you would hear from him, he whispered his regret about how he was too late to say them to your face.

He just hoped that you could hear him from wherever you were now, and that you and Artemis would keep each other safe until he could see the two of you again.


End file.
